Detroit Red Wings vs. Los Angeles Kings: What time, TV channel is tonight's game?
Detroit Red Wings (20-16-5) vs. Los Angeles Kings (20-10-8)
When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates).
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Game notes: After facing the NHL’s hottest team (the Edmonton Oilers), the Wings draw the league’s coldest — and not just because of the snow rolling into metro Detroit this weekend — with a visit from the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings have lost seven straight — though four were in OT or a shootout, so they haven’t plummeted in the Pacific Division standings like you might expect.
That includes the most recent meeting between these two teams, a 4-3 Wings shootout win on Jan. 4 in which Robby Fabbri had a pair of goals and Patrick Kane picked up an assist and the SO winner. But Alex Lyon was the true star, with 40 saves on 43 shots faced. That kicked off a run of three straight starts in which Lyon has posted a save percentage of .930 or higher, hitting .930 vs. the Kings, .935 on Sunday vs. the Ducks and .936 against the Oilers on Thursday.
Unfortunately for Lyon, he’s putting up those numbers on a ridiculous number of shots faced: in addition to the Kings’ 43, the Ducks had 31 and the Oilers had 47. That’s because the Wings’ defense has looked a little sieve-like; their 32.5 shots allowed per game is the sixth-most in the league, just behind the Ducks’ 32.7 and juuuuuust ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks’ 32.5. Those … those are not good teams to be stacked with in any category. And it’s not because the Wings have playing an uptempo game; their own shots on goal come in 10th-worst, at 29.2 (behind the Seattle Kraken’s 29.3 and ahead of the New York Islanders’ 29.7).
Tonight’s game is likely to be a mismatch in shots taken, at least, as the Kings’ 34 per game ranked third in the league entering Friday, and their 27.4 allowed was the third-least in the league. Take a lot of shots and don’t give up a lot of shots — it’s not a foolproof plan, but it’ll work more often than not.
The Kings are led in shots by Adrian Kempe; his 122 rank 33rd in the league, just a few behind the 31st shot-taker, Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat (126). Kemp is also converting on 12.3% of those shots en route to 15 goals and 22 assists, for a Kings-leading 37 points. (Your NHL leader in shots, by the way? Boston’s David Pastrnak. Must be all that Dunkin’s.)
One player who could probably use a bit more Dunkin? Fabbri, who has 11 goals this season — good for this on the Wings — in just 38 shots. That’s a scoring percentage of 28.9%, which feels a little … unsustainable. Then again, as we’re reminded every so often by reruns of The Office, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. (Thanks, Michael Scott, and, OK, Wayne Gretzky, too.)
Either way, the Wings won’t get much rest this weekend: they’ve got a Sunday-night matchup schedule with the Maple Leafs in Toronto (just before the Lions’ playoff game kicks off at Ford Field, in case you needed reminding), and the Leafs are right there with the Kings in shots taken, with 33.5 per game. (Though, like good Canadians — but not Canadiens — they give as well as they get, with a 31.3 shots-allowed average that’s 11th most in the league.) The Kings, meanwhile, continue a six-game road trip with a visit to Carolina on Monday night.
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings game score vs. Los Angeles Kings: Time, TV channel
